Radio boss quits over disagreement

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The managing director of Sveriges Radio, Peter Örn, has resigned over disagreements with the company's chairman.

Örn, who oversaw a controversial restructuring of SR's offering and a recent redundancy programme, resigned on Monday after discussions with chairman Ove Joanson.

"It has recently become clear that we have different views on certain aspects of how things will be done in the future, and we therefore both came to the conclusion that now was the right time to terminate the appointment," Joanson and Örn said in a joint statement.

Ove Joanson added that Örn had "carried out a number of necessary but painful changes, and he did so with humanity and the concern for public service that is his trademark."

During his time at SR, Örn restructured many of the company's stations, with his changes to the P1 station coming under strong criticism. Long-term listeners to the station complained that many of the new programmes were shallow. Another setback came when the government cancelled the expansion of the digital DAB radio network.

Most recently, Örn offered voluntary redundancy to the company's employees. Some 340 people applied for the 152 places in the redundancy scheme, something that was seen by unions as an expression of workers' dissatisfaction with SR's management.

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